Citizen's Arrest
| Next = | Episode list = Season 1}} After the body of a young man is found, the squad must deal with anti-government radicals and a kidnapping. At the same time, DDA Hobbs brings surprising information on Rusty Beck. The Victim * Ben Barlow, found stuffed in a 55-gallon barrel, dumped in a waste management center. Kendall estimated that Ben has been dead for approximately ten hours at the time of his discovery. Based on his autopsy results, he had been held hostage but managed to escape, only to be shot in the back. Member of Beta Kappa fraternity. Later revealed to have been kidnapped along with his sister, Emily. * Emily Barlow, kidnapped along with her brother Ben. Successfully rescued by MCD. The Suspects * Brian Barlow, father of Ben and Emily. Has a family law practice in Beverly Hills, with lots of high-profile divorce cases. Cashed in about a million dollars worth of stocks held jointly with his wife and he also emptied all of his bank accounts. One of Mr. Barlow's credit cards was used to purchase two black 55-gallon drums as well as a case of prepaid cellphones. Regarded as a control freak by Det. Sanchez, he was very adamant that the police should not get involved and actively tries to hinder the LAPD when contacted. * Lori Barlow, mother of Ben and Emily. Works from home and volunteers for Planned Parenthood and at battered-women shelters. * Gerald Hall, ex-husband of Brian Barlow's client. Filed none of the required forms during his divorce, lost his kids and had 58 powerful weapons, including high-powered rifles like the murder weapon. Identifies as a "Sovereign Citizen", an anti-government radical along with his father, Norman. * Norman Hall, father of Gerald Hall. Identifies as a "Sovereign Citizen", an anti-government radical along with his son, Gerald. Evidence * 55-gallon barrel, used to dispose of Ben Barlow's body. * Rope burns on Ben's hands, suggesting he was restrained. * Ben Barlow's autopsy findings: seven broken ribs, cracked sternum, shattered left clavicle, dislocated jaw, gunshot wound in his back, duct tape residue on his mouth, rope burn patterns on his wrists indicate that his hands were bound behind his back. * .223 rifle round recovered from Ben Barlow, shot from over a hundred yards away, based on the fact that if it was any closer, it would have penetrated his body and therefore it wouldn't have been recovered. * Two black 55-gallon barrels purchased with Brian Barlow's credit card. * Box of prepaid cellphones purchased with Brian Barlow's credit card. * Divorce filing by Gerald Hall. * Weapons purchased from SoHo Guns & Ammo by Gerald and Norman Hall. Plot Finding the body Major Crimes was called to a waste management center, where a male body was found stuffed in a 55-gallon barrel after a forklift operator accidentally knocked it off from the bed of a transport truck. The victim had no wallet or ID and Kendall estimated that he has been dead for approximately ten hours at the time of his discovery. The victim had rope burns on his hands, suggesting he was tied up. According to the waste management center property manager, the barrel which was used to dispose of the body isn't one of his, as it's way too new. Even though the property is surrounded by chain-link fence, there is a service gate at the back of the property, which is kept unlocked for late-night drop-offs. The barrels were also marked as hazardous waste, so they were heading off to a landfill to be buried "for a thousand years", suggesting it's a good way to dispose of bodies without anyone knowing. Based on this knowledge, Lt. Provenza orders the search of all the barrels on the property, fearing additional victims. Based on the victim's autopsy results, he had been held hostage but managed to escape, only to be shot in the back with a rifle from over a hundred yards away. Even after the autopsy, there was still no indication as to who the victim was. The victim was reportedly in a college fraternity, based on a Beta Kappa fraternity symbol tattooed on his ankle. Lt. Flynn wondered if they could be dealing with a hazing death, but Capt. Raydor noted that hazing is for students trying to get into a fraternity, not for those who are already members. Based on this new information, Dr. Morales agrees to make the body presentable enough for a photo, which would be shown to fraternity members in order to identify the victim. Identification After the photo is shown around, the division finds out that the victim is Ben Barlow. According to Ben's fraternity brother, Mark Howard, Ben hasn't been seen in over a week and also hasn't answered any calls or texts. Ben was supposed to show up at a bar after they picked their claim rooms, but he never showed up. Mark also notes that Ben was able to pick his father's old room, which makes it weird he hasn't shown up. According to Mark, Ben's father was the President of class of 1982, which made Ben a "legacy." At this point, Det. Sykes comes in and states that none of the other barrels at the scene had bodies in them, completely freaking out Mark, as Raydor and Provenza hadn't notified him of Ben's death. Now that the secret is out, Provenza asked Mark if Ben had fought with anyone, made any enemies, or received any threats. Mark noted that everybody loved Ben and that he was a really good guy. When Mark asked if Ben's father knew about his death, he noted that Ben's father had told him Ben was just out of town. Afterwards, Mark wanted to let everyone know of Ben's death, which obviously wasn't what MCD wanted, so Det. Sanchez pretended to swore in Mark as a "citizen officer", tricking him into thinking that he couldn't share any info about the investigation. After the detectives got Ben's home address from Mark's cell phone, they went in to notify his parents, Brian and Lori, of their son's death. Brian has a family law practice in Beverly Hills (with lots of high-profile divorce cases), while Lori works from home and volunteers for Planned Parenthood and at battered-women shelters. Before they enter, Lt. Provenza brings up the point of eliminating the parents as suspects to Capt. Raydor, but at some point, they have to notify them of Ben's death and asks how they should go about it. When they knock on the front door, Brian Barlow answers. After the detectives identify themselves, Lori barges to the door wanting to know "if they found her childen." Brian tells the detectives to leave immediately, as "they" are watching the house and are listening to their phones. When Mr. Barlow gets agitated at the detectives, Raydor slips her phone to Lori and tells her to call her, and then orders the detectives out as they just walked into a kidnapping situation. Investigation into the kidnapping After this new reveal, the detectives regroup with Emily's situation taking first priority. Lt. Flynn argues, that they should have notified the parents of Ben's death, as that would have shown them their reaction to it, as they still haven't eliminated them as suspects. Raydor notes, that the LAPD is under no legal obligation to inform anyone of any death, and Provenza further states that if the parents are actually telling the truth, the kidnappers would most likely hear the sadness/anger in their voices which would tip them off to the fact that the LAPD has found Ben. All the while this argument is going on, Raydor uses Provenza's phone to text Lori Provenza's number so that she would call her. When Lori calls, she tells the detectives that the kidnappers made first contact six days ago, demanding $100,000 in ransom, which they paid. Afterwards the kidnappers demanded even more money, which they again paid them. According to Lori, Brian has spoken to their children and they have made four payments in total to the kidnappers at this point, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollards and still they just make them wait. Lori has also told Brian that they can't handle this and that they should go to the police, but Brian won't listen to her. Near the end of the call, Raydor asks for Lori's permission to place wire-taps on their phones, for the time the kidnappers call again. After the call, Lt. Flynn starts working on the wire-taps, Det. Sanchez begins tracing the money, and Lt. Tao will contact DDA Andrea Hobbs in order to gain access to Brian Barlow's cases as well as getting access to Ben's and Emily's Facebook accounts. Provenza also notes that SIS has a great deal of experience in kidnapping cases and therefore it would be a good time for Det. Sykes to take the lead, considering her background in SIS, and because Brian Barlow is preparing for another ransom drop they could follow him with a drone and have eyes on the whole operation. Back at the office when Provenza, Sykes, and Buzz are setting up the drone footage, Flynn comes in and tells that the wire-taps are all approved and should be working, now all they need to do is wait for someone to call. Meanwhile, Tao is going over Ben's and Emily's Facebook accounts, he finds something interesting on Emily's account: "Dad's office set up a secret photo session for my brother and me as a anniversary present for my parents. So Fun!" That post was made the same day they went missing and the Dad's office didn't know anything about it when Tao asked. Capt. Raydor surmised that this was most likely a plot created by the kidnappers in order to grab both childen at once, and that the kidnappers knew that the Barlow's had an anniversary. Tao also noted that the kidnappers knew how to contact both of the kids and where their father worked at, meaning they have access to a lot of personal information, suggesting that the kidnappers are close to the family. Afterwards, Julio returns with a report of the family's financials. Apparently Brian Barlow cashed in about a million dollars worth of stocks held jointly with his wife and he also emptied all of his bank accounts. Lt. Tao argued that it might be just for the ransom drops but Julio revealed that he also found strange activity on one of Mr. Barlow's credit cards: two black 55-gallon drums purchased just 3 weeks ago as well as a case of prepaid cellphones. Julio notes that Mr. Barlow is a divorce attorney and if he is planning on leaving his wife, he knows that he can't hide money from her, so collecting his own ransom payments will get him all their cash. Julio also notes that Mr. Barlow was very adamant about not involving the police and that he sounds like a control freak. Although Raydor was hesitant at first because she found it unlikely that Mr. Barlow would kill both his children for money, she conceded that they have seen worse and Mr. Barlow was very serious about the LAPD not interfering. Tao also noted that the pre-purchased barrels indicated that someone was thinking about how to get rid of bodies before the kidnapping. When Julio concluded that in his opinion they should go pick up Mr. Barlow for questioning, the kidnappers called again, this time with the MCD hearing the call through the wire-tap. Mr. Barlor demanded to speak to his kids and the kidnapper put Emily on the phone. When Brian wanted to also talk to his son, the kidnapper told him not to call the police (once again) and that this would be the last drop. Although the division was unable to trace the call, they did get an area code for the caller, 661, which is the same as on the prepaid cellphones purchased with Brian Barlow's credit card. After the ransom call, Provenza receives a call from Capt. Raydor's phone. Expecting Lori, Raydor answers but on the other end of the line is a very angry Brian Barlow, telling Raydor to "stay out of this!" When he tells that Raydor is endangering the lives of his childen if "these people" find out that he has been talking to the police, Raydor asks him "who are these people?" Rather than answering, he throws the phone on the wall and breaks it. Afterwards, the division wonders if they should pick up Mr. Barlow or follow him. Raydor chooses to go a different route: contacting DDA Hobbs. Closing the case After Julio re-checked with the credit card company, the credit card used to buy the barrels and the prepaid phones was reported stolen by Brian Barlow three weeks ago. That alone doesn't mean that he didn't by them but he was at court when they were purchased and he is contesting the charges with the company. Looking through the files of Mr. Barlow's divorce cases, Provenza finds the case of Gerald Hall who filed none of the required forms during his divorce, lost his kids and had 58 powerful weapons, including high-powered rifles like the murder weapon. Raydor has Susan Hall, Gerald's ex-wife brought in and she explains that Gerald is a "Sovereign Citizen", an anti-government radical along with his father, Norman. Gerald had many more guns than the ones he got back in the divorce and buys them all time from a store. Susan tells them that Gerald suddenly showed up with $20,000 in back child support and asked to see his kids that night, causing them to realize he intends to take his kids and run. While Susan knows that Gerald lives in a trailer with Norman, they move around and she has no idea where to find them. However, they are able to track the registration on Gerald's weapons and find the gun shop Gerald buys them from. Tao and Flynn suggest that Gerald and Norman buy tons of weapons to sell in Mexico for a profit and are planning to use the ransom money for this purpose. However, as Gerald and Norman bought two 55-gallon barrels, they realize the two intend to kill Emily once they have what's left of the ransom money. Julio and Sykes go to the gun store and force the owner to call Gerald and tell him his shipment has arrived. When he comes, they arrest him and DDA Hobbs offers him a deal where he immediately pleads guilty to kidnapping and first degree murder in exchange for helping them rescue Emily and not getting the death penalty. Gerald refuses so Hobbs leaves him to Julio to deal with. Julio pretends that Gerald attacked him and threatens to kill him and claim self-defense. Gerald finally agrees to help them stop his father and rescue Emily. With Flynn, Provenza, Raydor and Buzz following behind, Gerald drives Julio and Sykes to Norman's trailer in his van, explaining that he never intended for Ben and Emily to get hurt despite his anger at their father, he just picked up the money and tried to keep his father, who is crazy, calm. At the trailer, thermal imaging detects Emily, alive and Norman realizes from Gerald's reactions that he has led the police to him. He murders Gerald and then dashes into the trailer to kill Emily. After Raydor confirms Emily is lying prone, Julio fires through and down the side of the trailer with a rifle, killing Norman before he can harm Emily. Julio, Sykes, Flynn, and Provenza then enter the trailer and rescue Emily. Afterwards however, they have to inform the devastated Barlow parents of their son's death. Guest Cast * Guy Wilson as Mark Howard * Kari Coleman as Laurie Barlow * Casey Biggs as Brian Barlow * Seana Kofoed as Susan Hall * Scott MacDonald as Dale Fisher * Scott Michael Campbell as Gerald Hall * Cooper Huckabee as Norman Hall Recurring * Kathe Mazur as DDA Andrea Hobbs * Ransford Doherty as Coroner's Investigator Kendall Locations Episode Notes * Featured as part of the episode are father and son characters who describe themselves as "Sovereign Citizens." An out-growth of the tax-protest movement, sovereign citizens believe they are not bound by federal or state laws, notably tax laws, as well as municipal laws governing acts such as driver's licensure and car registration. Although many of their activities are benign, some, including financial scams and impersonation of law enforcement officials, are identifed by the FBI as posing serious threats, and they are viewed by some groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Group, as potential domestic terrorists, with activities frequently escalating to violence. Trivia Episode Media Category:Major Crimes Category:MC Season 1 Category:Episodes